If Wishes
by Tigereyes45
Summary: As he lies on the ground among the trees of Endor. Rex looks back. This was suppose to be the final fight, the final push against the republic yet the man's thoughts hum a nursery rhyme he heard a long time ago. He thinks back to the men he let down or lost along the way.


_**I heard this nursery rhyme a wrote a fanfiction over it. The rhyme is call "If Wishes were Horses, Beggars Would Ride"**_

* * *

 _If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride._

Captain Rex formerly of the 501st and now part of the rebels alliance was no beggar, but he wishes for a great many things. The words were the first phrase of a nursery rhyme he had heard ages ago. It was often sung by Fives who claimed to have heard it from a shore leave friend. Rex felt that had been a lie, for no he could not imagine any grown person singing the song. Yet here he was the lyrics stuck in his head so many years later.

 _If turnips were watches, I'd where one at my side_

He had no turnips, but he had plenty of marks. On his helmet, signifying the years he has lived. On his heart where every loss affected him. In his head where the scars of a chip that had cost him much to lose was impacted him greater then Rex would ever care to admit. He wore all of them at all times, even if the helmet was only nearby and not always hanging from his belt lock. Every mark was a watch of it's own kind. Each one made him older, and he knew that. Perhaps it was getting closer to that time.

 _If "if's and "and's" were pots and pans_

He would be a kitchen clone by now. The ifs were always there in the back of his head. Training he received as a young clone helps keep them there but on the rare occasion training just was not enough. Rex wonders what would have happened **if** he had saved Fives. **If** he had gone back for Echo after the explosion. **IF** he had gone with Ashoka. Would Echo have been made into a separatist pawn? Would they have lived? Would they still be here? The ands are a bit different for him. They often start with an if. If he had gone with Ashoka he would have told her everything **and** protected her from the dark lord who attacked her. If he had listened to Fives the clone would have lived **and** would find that Echo was alive. His most desparate pleas always end with, **and** they would be happy, or an **and** they would still be here. The old soldier knows everyone thinks this way at some point. Still knowing that others wonder the same was not enough for him.

All the "if's" as well as all the "and's" in the world would never be enough. He had never been enough. The captain reflects on all of his shortcomings, all of his failings. He had not kept his men from preventing the order. He could only save a rare few. Even after their chips were removed not all made it through the order despite all they had done. He was lucky to even have Gregor and Wolffe with him, but it was not enough. Not after all of his lost. Not after Ahsoka, and Anakin.

 _There'd be no work for tinker's hands._

Rex was most of all a soldier, and a soldier belongs in a fight. It was the whole reason he had been created. So it made sense for him to move on from fighting for the republic to fight for a rebellion. Even though Rex had a hard time coping with his aging he had never considered taking his own life. No the day he died he would be in a field fighting for every last breath. Just like his other brothers. Just like Ashoka had undoubtedly. So as he lies there under a scorching sun that he could not even see past any of the trees surrounding him; he accepts that this was his time.

There was no more need for the old clones of a war that was already over. They might as well be history already. So as Rex calmly lies on the ground. His wounds causing blood to fill his camo suit he spots a girl coming closer. She wore armor close to his own, but her face it was all Padme's. Rex realizes that this was the Organa girl. The one rumored to belong to the lost Padme, taken in by Bail. He wishes Ashoka could have seen her. They would love each other.

Rex wonders, **if** she was Padme's **and** Anakin's. The fierce princess who led her men into battle. Yes, that sounds like their child.


End file.
